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User blog:SquirrelTew/Helen Crump’s Jealousy
Of all the characters on The Andy Griffith Show, the most polarizing is unquestionably Helen Crump. When Helen was introduced in Season 3, Episode 23 (“Andy Discovers America”), she cemented her legacy as a no nonsense, vocal alpha. Six episodes later in “A Wife for Andy” (Season 3, Episode 29) Helen’s fate was sealed as Andy’s girlfriend and eventual wife (Mayberry RFD: Season 1, Episode 1). Andy and Helen’s courtship began innocent and was a basic relationship for the era with dates to the movies, meals at the diner, picnics, watching TV at Helen’s, and the occasional trip to Mount Pilot for Chinese. But we soon started seeing a different side of Helen seep out as her proverbial onion was peeled back. A jealous side of Helen first emerged in “The Fun Girls” episode (Season 4, Episode 27) but this jealousy was a shared envy with Thelma Lou and was completely understandable because it appeared Andy and Barney had other girls on the side. To me, the true jealousy of Helen we all came to know was birthed in Season 5, Episode 24 (“Guest in the House”). It was here where we saw Helen go overboard with resentment when Andy gives attention to Gloria, an attractive family friend who was staying at the Taylor home after a broken engagement. In the overwhelming majority of episodes Helen appears in from this point forward there is some form of Helen’s spite towards Andy and in some cases, vice versa, as in Season 6, Episode 2 in “Andy’s Rival” when it is Andy who get bitten by the jealous bug. It is this ongoing plot and storyline with Helen that I feel caused and overall angst towards the character of Helen Crump for many diehard Andy Griffith fans. This may be obvious but I wanted to present the reason I feel Helen’s demeanor was written and characterized as such and it centers wholly upon the exit of Barney’s character from the show. As you know, when Andy Griffith first debuted Don Knotts had signed a five year deal with Show, fully believing that the show would not exceed Season 5 because of discussions he’d had with Andy Griffith before TAGS premiered. In the middle of season 5, thinking he would have to find more work after TAGS, Knotts began discussions with Universal Studios who wanted to ink him to a 5 film deal. It was around this same time that Andy informed Don that TAGS would indeed continue in to a 6th season, which completely caught Don off guard. Don explained in his autobiography that he signed his deal with Universal after Andy mentioned TAGS going in to future seasons because in Don’s mind, “he had already moved on” and didn’t want to miss out on a career post TAGS that could potentially not be there had he stayed as Barney Fife. Circling back and correlating Don’s exit to Helen’s jealousy. Andy and Don had arguably the best comedic chemistry in television history and because of his expertise in his character, Knotts had won 5 Emmy’s for playing Barney Fife. With this gaping hole, plot line, and character leaving the show, TAGS writers were left with a new series of stories to fill for TAGS episodes going forward. I feel they centered on Andy and Helen’s ongoing fights, brought on by Helen’s spitefulness as the show’s nucleus. Instead of episodes being about Andy playing pranks on Barney or Andy building Barney’s fragile moral, they turned to Andy and Helen’s next trouble in paradise. This theory would make sense because as previously mentioned, a new side of Helen’s jealousy appeared in “Guest in the House” when it was known Don Knotts would indeed be leaving TAGS. Though I personally didn’t like the constant covetous Helen portrayed, I do feel Aneta Corsaut was an outstanding actor. She made being a grudge-filled girlfriend look incredibly easy and that’s a complement. Her and Andy’s ongoing drama piggybacked TAGS for 3 seasons after Knotts left and when the show finally ended in 1968 in season 8, it was ranked number one in ratings. Category:Blog posts